Reel

Final thing, had some issues with rendering out the flash files so If I get that sorted i'l put that up on here as a revised edition.
So the show-reel itself, I'm happy with it, even thought its not exactly how I'd thought it would end up like. I wanted people to see how I worked through construction  lines and their development into a finished piece. I feel the musical choice was much better than the original ideas I had come up with and doesn't make the reel feel...so "heavy". Has a bit more of a fun atmosphere to it.

Final Sketch Dump

The above should have probably gone in with the other final sheets but I wanted to tweak some things.

This is the last time I think i'l be uploading any artwork onto here for this project, just some bits of character art etc and some construction work scribbles. Iv'e kept doing them all the way through the entire project to make sure I don't forget how to draw the big guy, yes i get worried about forgetting to draw :S.

All practice is good.

In which my musical choice changes again...

Ok so we all know from previous posts I cant really make a good decision with music. While putting the entire thing together to render I had Tom Petty's Running down a dream track playing...you know because doing this all is so incredibly stressful and it relaxes me. And while playing through...it just went so well with the images and transitions...so...again its changed. i hope you will all enjoy the final render.

Character Sheets: Dale

Been busy as of late finalizing the design for Dale and making sure he is readable as a character. Hopefully these sheets might give a bit more of a illustrative view of the character and I suppose its good practice for the industry to produce reference sheets for anybody who may be working with me on a future animation.

I was going to digitally write on the sheets, but I don't feel I can draw very well in digital media let alone write on a graphics tablet so corresponding notes will be typed by the side or underneath. If I get time I may transfer notes onto the images and re upload, but that's a big "if".

Turnaround: Detailing the main  and or basic features of the character:

-Built like a bear, came about from a conversation with my mother about how Russian men seem to have thick necks...so a thick neck he should have!

-Classic "V" shaped torso tapering to the legs supporting HUGE shoulders and arms.

-Broken looking nose, maybe he was in a fight, characters have a mind of their own! Nose bridge collapses in on itself.

-Gloves cover only the last two fingers, back of hand and palm, to allow for grip when scaling buildings.

-Trapper hat optional depending on scene

-Military styled cuffed shorts for maneuverability.

-Just a vest on the torso, he's Russian, this boy doesn't feel the cold  ;)

-Soviet sneakers: the height of Cold war fashion. Small star on the heel on both sides as well as 5 circular loops down the neck of the foot.

Personality sheets Above&Below:

-Practices Cossack dancing as well as Parkour maybe a bit of Ballet (Takes an awful lot of strength)

-Pretty nimble for his musculature and size.

-Disciplined.

Artistic Notes: 

-Curve on the thigh musculature should gently arc into the knee which reaches a point.

-Fingernails ARE drawn in on the two visible fingers

-Shoulders should point at the end but not too harshly (think toned down Dallas style ha!)

-Calf is defined

-Cuffed trouser stripe central and should move in perspective/foreshortening.

-Elbows also point and flow back into the musculature of the arm.

Head/Facial/Expression Sheet:

- Military short back and sides haircut, quiff-ed to the left hand side (our right) 

-Eyebrows arch and are met centrally by a brow crease line.

-Small flick in central quiff.

-Top lip defined bottom lip defined by a "T"  which runs down to define chin also.

-Tired looking but expressive eyes.

-Iris do not touch the top and bottom but are significantly smaller and contain no pupil just solid colour.

-Nose bridge is defined.

Personality Notes:

-He should look self assured but not overtly so.

-Has an air of discipline so even expressions are never "over the top".

-Bit of a Posterboy

 Pose Sheets: ( 2 above and below)

-Carries himself heavily but dignified, think a bit like a bear walking on its hind legs, heavy influence of the torso and shoulders.

- When stood up straight there is a definitive inward arch to the back.

-When sat does hunch slightly, emphasizes his upper body strength.

Extreme run

Development from the whole extreme perspective thing, not quite as extreme as what I had in my head but pretty happy with how it turned out.
Moving the hands in an out of perspective and foreshortening was probably the hardest part, the legs were surprisingly easy. hopefully he looks as if he is really pelting it towards the audience.

Would really like to finalize this just to see what it turns out like. It probably actually needs a bound in there but at this point in time, I've got faaar too many other things pressing for my attention on this project, and im actually a bit unsure on how to put the bound in there. No tutors for four weeks is not as great as it sounds ;)

Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaDvEWawcCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8PWsI4sRJU

Same band different tracks, hopefully this might fit in more with how my demo reel is developing.

Soundtrack development and Extreme perspective

Ok so as its progressing I've realized I don't feel my original selection of music will work, I think the music needs to be a bit more...neutral than having associated lyrics etc. Not only that with all this work on I don't quite feel like starting my lipsync now will work and to be quite honest i don't feel very confident with doing it anyway. 

However As my works been very technical so far ive been working more and more in perspective and i thought i'd mix it up a little and make it a bit more extreme. It might just make some animations a bit more interesting.

Arab horse walk

Bit of a late rough.

Thought it might be good to try and work on a smaller framed horse so I chose the Arabian. Tried to get a bit of an attitude with the head and neck. originally had wanted to do a snaking motion but I could not really find enough reference  and I don't feel quite so confident with just going straight ahead and taking the plunge with these things as it might not come across how i wanted. bit more brave with the secondary movement, tail swish and forelock motion.Also tried to capture better the transition of weight on the horses rump.

Horse of course

Just some little bits and bobs that could go in the demo-reel too.

The first clip is a experiment in flash to try and capture a mundane movement and have a good go at secondary movement, in this case the tail flick, I really didn't feel so comfortable with animation as a whole at the start of this year as I was new to it, so secondary animation worried me even more. However now I feel a bit more at ease with it. Cleaned it up as best I could but again me and Flash, we are not great mates at the best of times.

 With the second I was hoping to be able to move something complex in perspective on a 2d surface and mess around with expression on a stylized animal form. Im pretty happy with how it turned out. Its not perfect but I dont feel I have the time to really develop it any further at the moment.

It definetley developed into something

Well how could it not really?...they are so beautiful!
This was really just a bit of fun that turned into something more. Plus I think my character might look dashing on one so why not?
Ok so started out as a really really cheap experiment in flash with the motor running. But you know how it is sometimes you just keep working on a tangent and by the end of it I had a figure standing on top. The suspension bounce was difficult to do and I feel it looks too cartoony so maybe I can mess around with it a bit more before/if I choose to take it any further. Also I never realized how annoying wheel spokes are to animate to give the illusion of movement. Could look cool with a background whizzing by, but that's just a side note at the moment.

Call it a bit of a whim....

...but I recently got a bit of passion back for motorbikes, not the new shiny ones but those lovely old pre-war and post war bikes...classics :P Maybe this will develop into something.

Reference Ural M70 http://www.imz-ural.com/2013-ural-m70-retro/ All images on site used.

Side locomotion Human and Equine run final roughs

These are the final rough works that will hopefully be developed further into line work for my demo-reel. Im pretty happy with the Horse but I cant quite help but feel not so happy with the Human. Maybe it will look tighter when its lined. Never the less good fun to do. Certainly betters my understanding of gaits which will come in handy when animating the two subjects in the future.

Draft final rough

Final rough animation for my Big draft horse. He is supposed to be pulling, I'm not going to be putting in any other visual cue's to enforce the overall idea so I hope people might be able to guess from the movement itself.
Very fun to do, really enjoyed working in perspective. I'm hoping to take this further by lining it and maybe if I have enough time slap some colour on there too.

Anatomy studies

 I noticed my understanding of leg anatomy is really quite basic, this causes a huge problem when trying to animate because I cant translate the movement idea properly onto media and solidly to make it believable, not only that it allows it easier for me to slip into flaws with even just sketch work so I decided to spend sometime working with leg musculature. Hopefully I can keep this up and even though it may be a gradual improvement its better than being ignorant to it.
Above was just more general anatomy practice.

More character developments

Getting to know the big guy a bit better, I guess this not only allows me to get a better feel for drawing the character, which I will be over and over again when animating but also allows me to develop his personality a bit more, who he is and maybe his mannerisms that may translate into  situations that could be animated.

Sketchwork

Working heavily in digital is not a bad thing but it sure as hell doesn't beat good ol' pencil and paper.
I tend to sketch fast to capture movement and force so hopefully anybody who watches this blog might be able to make out what I'm drawing.

Blue pencil ...gotta love it.

By doing these I feel better placed to certainly key frame movement and maybe even dramatize slightly any animation that might come from it. I have to say though the more I'm looking at parkour the more I feel intimidated by it.

I often watch these compilations and its where alot of my sketch work comes from, not living in a big city or heavily developed urban area it is difficult to find Parkour groups aside from those  based in London. Good practice to pause at random screens and draw what you see. Most of the sketches of people in motion you will see on my blog are from doing this.

Walk Update

Straitened out the limb although I have not wrapped the body form over it as of yet, I might just go straight ahead with the lining. Flash is pretty nasty to use. Cant really get line weight very well and I'm plagued by "hairy-lines" when working in it. Probably easier to export the files and line them in Photoshop and or Sai, which is a fantastic little set up.

Walk rough

Tried a walk in perspective, i quite like it although there's an unintentional small pectoral bounce in there...how it happened I don't know but the more I see it the more i like it. I tried to go for the Men in Black walk from the cartoon show, don't know if anyone remembers it but it was pretty shoulder heavy on the movement. The only thing that's really bothering me is that this guy seems to be suffering from a limp or maybe its a seized up leg! The left leg is not utilizing perspective well and its not straightening out as I feel it should. I'l have a mess around with it as I go along.
Edit: Just realized a clothing layers smack bam left over the top....woops :)

High Ho Silver.....Horse gallop Rough

This was really a side product of the walk cycle, I was feeling a bit experimental so I thought "why not try a gallop? I've got the body already from the walk cycle....." And that's where my problems began :)

Flash makes it so easy to be lazy :/ But hey ho its not like it was a serious test, just a bit of fun that's possibly become something I can use, which isn't too bad.

It was very difficult finding any reference for this gait at this angle so I've had to place them all in perspective and by using Muybridges plates again, so incredibly useful. the head was also difficult to recreate surging forward, I've been told it tucks in too much so that's the first point of call when correcting it. The front and blacklegs are slightly out of rhythm sync, so that's also something that needs to be looked into further. 

Annd last but not least the body needs redoing completely  it served its purpose as a copy and paste space filler but if I want this too look good I'l be needing it too move correctly with the motion of the horse.

Facial Sketchwork: Dale + Outfitting ;)

 Firstly I apologize for the uploading of 3 pictures, these were originally all on one sheet of A3 and my scanners A4 sized, hence why multiple uploads. 

This is just sketch work capturing the construction of one of the characters facial features from different angles, I want to be able to recreate him solidly in a 2D space as so to speak so, for things like lip-sync work and even for scenes where the focus isn't on the face, this is very important to me.

 Some shorthand sketches accompany the larger images, I guess this was a pot shot at expression, which I still need to work heavily on.

Done in blue & 2B graphite, hell of a lot of fun to do!

And last but not least is some various outfit concepts, whether anything comes of them I'm not sure, I tried to keep some of the original designs from my old work, I think if i lost some of those it might change who he is in a way. I'm not keep to let that happen. However I have to say he' looks quite snazzy in some of these outfits, others not so much. I can't just think of aesthetics though with his appearance he needs to be able to move well. i think jumping around rooftops wearing a fisherman's jumper might get a bit warm and trying to run properly in a heavy ol' war issue trench might slow you down so gotta keep him light with the clothing. Other things could be omitted due to time constraints. Adding a courier bag for example means i have to plot that out in secondary animation and its another thing to have to line and/or colour.

Parkour Bound motion test

A ridiculously loose quick test on a rooftop leap, just wanted to get the gist of the movement. Not incredibly interesting mind you but its the first step in moving myself into animating human action. Needs a lot more work but I think the groundwork's OK at the least, need to follow through the leap with a roll or some kind of recoil reaction.  There is also another rough jump and a ugly kong vault which...i just cant get my head around i just seem to get more frustrated with it.

I feel I need to break into more engaging pieces though, something a bit more acting work, so watch this space!

Draft Horse v2 and Plates ref

Messed around with the head slightly to get a better swing in there and coded the legs/put them on different layers to make adjustment easier. Needs overlap on the muzzle and the legs tweaking so the left hand two don't place at the same time, back leg perspective made more extreme to create a better illusion of the legs being brought forward and taken back. Still needs a lot of work though

To help me get as close as possible to what I would consider a decent animation I've been using Muybridge's wonderful plates. Cannot stress how important they are!

Character development J/D

So I thought I'd get a feel for drawing these guys again since they are going to be the human stars of the reel, well at least for sure one of them will be. I'd love these guys to be couriers or something a bit more normal, mechanics would be cool also. Photographers maybe my good friend drew the little soviet camera at the bottom as some reference for me, you can see more of his work here: http://boxume.tumblr.com/  

Even if its not an action pose, characters doing mundane or everyday things can be interesting and actually quite fun to draw, they might not do it exactly like everyone else for instance and it can add just a little bit more personality. also it can just look hilarious. on a more serious note it can help us as viewers connect to them on a basic level. After all who hasn't wanted to smile for a camera? (image above)

Really rough work on clothing design, it needs to be non restrictive for movement purposes but I'd like it to look pretty cool too, I'm trying to bring in a sloppy military mechanic look.

Power posing from one of the guys >

 Facial work for them both as you can probably see the smaller guy is Jim and the bigger heftier guy Dale. Not very Russian names mind you...maybe they are spy names D:

Music/lipsync

Just posting a couple of candidate songs for my demo reel, I wanted something with a lot of energy and rhythm so the main genre here is Dub step.
Pendulum Tracks:

The Fountain

Witchcraft

Watercolour

Hold Your Colour

I don't feel they add anything really to the narrative? At this stage however once I have been through the lyrics I guess I'l have more of an idea then, they may also help shape my idea more too.
However I'm not completely even sure on the genre so if I hear something that I think will accompany my reel better I'l post it on up here.

Forward Walk Draft Horse Test

Ok so I decided to challenge myself with a awkward 3/4 forward horse walk cycle. It wasn't actually as hard as I first had thought, however I was a bit cheeky with the body and copy and pasted it only adjusting for noticeable movements in its placement ( this will be changed when I do a second pass). The legs are also not working as the should, the general movements there but its not quite right, so a lot of corrections needed there, Running at 12 Fps at the moment as on 24 fps it looks like its headbanging :/ Maybe I'l upload it for a laugh.

While studying the movement in 2d I have also been replicating the musculature in 3d to better my understanding.

Materials used Apoxie sculpt and an awfully looking old cardboard horse form. Looked more like a skinned rat.

I could not recommend doing something like this more. It really made me look hard and concentrate on the form and bettered my placement for effective line work and curvatures which could improve and minimize my style.